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RISE FROM THE ASHES
Time Lock Winds rustled through the town; hot wind blowing leaving jagged lines across the sand left little to the imagination; and most of all, it was half-deserted city—the crumbling buildings were that all that stood....Clouds loomed overhead; tainted black with corruption. Around the group were grassy mountains singed with flame, surrounded by flowing water. The building that was in the middle which was above the circular meeting place where the government met in, decreased in width as it reaches the ground, tall spires protruding from the roof. Two lengths of golden chain connected the castle to twin peaks. This single building was a diamond in the rough. "Where....are we?" Makoto looked around in bewilderment. "This place....it certainly doesn't feel like a place we should be in." Erza looked around- since the kingdom was magically ensnared in a large barrier of energy, largely protecting it from any harm, this also caused time itself to stop. All around the area, as far as the eye could see, there were wounded people and numerous monsters- it was obvious there was a war going on at the time of sealing, meaning that they were frozen within time as well, held in a state between life and death. "...Well, this is actually the oddest thing I've seen. Even more that that Gehaburn thing. It's like there's a whole 'nother world underneath this grove...and nobody noticed." Chelia's curiosity got the better of her, as she wandered over to a bisected man- his halves in the air, trying to touch him. However, as if it were magic, she was immediately repulsed by a sort of invisible barrier, throwing her back a few feet. "Huh!? What the fuckin' hell was that!?" Erza, using her brains for once, summarized, "This world is immovable in time. If we were to interfere with certain parts of the kingdom, then the universe itself'd correct it; so no matter what we do, it's perpetually frozen. At least that's what I'd like to think. Sealed or not, this place is part of the universe, and it'll put all of its might into keeping the world as is." "This place...." Wendy walked around slowly, taking in the sight of the battling, the wounded, the deceased. She turned her eyes to a woman whose head had been chopped off right at the moment the area was sealed in time, her faced permanently contorted in a look of terror. "A Time Lock...." "A what?" Makoto look confused. "This entire area is under a Time Lock." Wendy was looking around the area with a mixture of appreciation and apprehension. "Of the several types of time-based magics out there; the , , time travel....a Time Lock is the arguably the most powerful." "I suppose so...to cause all this." Makoto agreed. "It's not just the simple act of freezing time..." Wendy shook her head. "It completely seals off events in time, and seals them from the timeline. It happened, but it didn't happen. And, they are nearly impossible to reach through time travel, because, as far as the sphere of time is concerned, events sealed within a Time Lock do not exist. We should not even be here." Chelia was still rubbing her head. "Time is a mysterious thing...This place gives me the creeps. Death and destruction everywhere; it's like what I went through back when I was made...Hell, I think I've seen that castle before. I don't know where, but I have." "You've seen it before?" Wendy looked curious, and cast her eyes toward the castle that practically no one could miss. "Do you know anything, Chelia? Is it something we should take note of?" Chelia realized, "Yeah, it's part of some legend. According to what I remember, "The phoenix born from the moon, bearing darkness and light, shall bring salvation to the land three times. After that, as darkness looms upon the horizon, they would seal themselves deep within the origins of the land, as their vanishing heralds the destruction of the world; sealed forever within the abyss of time until the chosen day looms on the horizon, rising from the ashes of the civilization." "I guess that's where we're gonna go." Tyrone gave the castle a look. "It's a pity. With everyone like this, I don't even have a chance to bust some heads." Erza cracked her knuckles in anticipation. "Now, let's get this show on the road. We'll get to the castle, and if you do happen to be right, Chelia, we'll go fetch that sealed phoenix, and tame it's power, turning it back on the Shadow Remnants!" "I....don't think it'll be that easy." Makoto chuckled weakly, a bit taken aback by Erzas overzealous attitude. "There might not even be anything in that castle, why would we just go in without a plan?" "It's what Akatsuki does." Wendy replied simply. Erza actually had to agree with the "blue-haired rodent". "Guess she's right. Besides, look around us." She threw her arms out as a gesture to show the world frozen within time. "Nothing can really hurt us right now. Whatever could be considered hostile is frozen within time thanks to the Time Lock. So we're good. Now, let's skedaddle serenely." Marching forward, Erza acted like the leader of the whole group...when she really wasn't fit to be in such a position. "....Did the Guild Master really appoint her our leader?" Makoto looked confused. "She's so....she's special." "It's more for her power than her actual leadership abilities." Tyrone grunted, hoisting his hammer over his head. "However, she can prove reliable...at least when the chips are down." Erza smiled slightly; while it wasn't obvious, it certainly did show that yes, she did care. "While I may be a bad choice for team leader, a cheater, a manipulator, a self-absorbed bitch, and a bad choice for team leader, I am NOT a bad choice for team leader. I'll look after those people I'm supposed to lead like they're my family. After all, aren't we all family anyway? Anyway, enough chitter chatter. Let's go." Marching over to the castle, Erza took note at the sky. The sky immediately became a haunting crimson, and the clouds were pitch black. Thunder crashed down from the sky at a never-ending pace—this wasn't a good sign. Still, none of this put them off, as they marched forward. Slowly, the group traversed the demonic castle. How cliché—the whole thing screamed 'EVIL' that it was hard to take seriously, if not for the fact that it was actually quite terrifying—chains with meat-hooks hung from the ceiling, the paintings were terribly damaged, and grating sounds resounded from the walls that sounded almost like human screaming. Who in the hell could have designed such a place? "...Well, this is certainly lovely." Hanako was expecting something rather marvelous; not a castle of despair and death. Makoto shirked back, as if trying to get away. "This....I don't like any of this at all..." Her eyes themselves were quivering, as if about to pop out. Whatever field experience she'd had, this was beyond her limit. Wendy frowned, her hands on her hips as she took in the surroundings. "It certainly is an odd taste of decor. I wonder if this is where the prince of the castle took his little ghoulfriends." Erza chuckled a little. "You do seem to have a very punny sense of humour. Heck, I think you could be the pun''geon master of this-" She turned around to see everyone with annoyed expressions. "Okay, I'll stop now." Walking through the dungeon, the group passed several haunted paintings;"BEWARE". The cryptic voices resounded throughout the castle; yeah, this was really damn creepy. "Bah, this is just some guy echoing to scare the hell out of us. There's probably no ghost-" Chelia was cut off. "...Then what's my hand on your shoulder?" Hanako interrupted her with a monotone voice. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Chelia leaped as high as she could in shock, falling onto the ground head-first. "Dammit, don't do that!" Wendy swiftly smacked Chelia and Hanako across the face, her own face flustered. "Will you two be quiet? This entire area is creepy enough, without the added noise of both of you!" She sighed. "Erza, does that magic map do indoors?" Chelia immediately bowed down to Wendy. Amusingly it seemed that only Wendy could actually control her. "I-I'm sorry!" She straightened up as she said to herself, "Gotta keep cool...there's no such thing as ghosts, there's no such thing as ghosts. There's no damn thing as ghosts..." For all of her brashness, it seemed that she really was afraid of the supernatural. Hanako only took a single step back, sighing. "Watch where you throw that hand of yours. You never know if it'll hit the right face." Erza herself continued to look at the map. "Hmm, it's just started working again. All I had to do was recalibrate the coordinates. Now, it's working. So, once we get out of the hall, we'll see a neat little block puzzle, and that should unlock where we have to go, supposedly." "Another puzzle?" Tyrone seemed put off by this. "You mean like the ridiculous dance that needed to be done to even access this area?" Erza chuckled a little. "I have no idea. Considering how ominous this place looks, I doubt it'd be something like that. Imagine doing a stupid dance like that admist death and a demonic castle? It'd break the mood. I imagine it's some 'solve the soup cans' kinda thing." "Let's just get it done." Wendy seemed a bit impatient. "I am not anymore comfortable being here than the rest of us." She shuddered briefly; even if this place wasn't haunted, that didn't stop it from ''feeling that way. Erza and the group walked over to the center of the castle; exiting the large hallway to reveal. "Alright, lessee..." She pointed out three triangular blocks; in the middle of the room, there was a pattern of four triangles together which formed an unusual image- it was supposedly a symbol of peace; all inscribed upon the floor. "So, you guys. We move the triangles to fit the pattern on the floor. You can only rotate them by one corner; pull on either side of the block to determine how they move. After you’ve gotten the hang of moving the blocks, move the blocks onto the pattern to make them sink down into the ground. Easy as pie." Makoto clutched her head for a moment. "Um....I'm not following, at all. Erza, if you find it so easy, why don't you do it?" Wendy, however, moved over to one of triangle block, looking at them with a hint of irritation. "Whoever put this up has a penchant for annoying people....there may really be someone sealed her after all, Chelia." She placed a hand on the face of one of the blocks. "So...if I just push...." She applied a bit of pressure. Erza sighed. "Dammit it's so easy. Alright, lemme do this. Hanako, hold my map." She tossed the map to Hanako, as she ran over to a block which was situated a few meters away from the pattern, pushing it forward while running continuously- and in no time flat, she had pushed it into the lower-right corner of the pattern. "Now, that's one down. Chelia, you help Wendy, and Tyrone, you do the last block once those two are done." "Did I ever say I needed help?" Wendy snapped back at Erza. It was surprising how similar the two looked when they had an attitude; in fact, the only difference was probably hair colour and height, Erza was a tad taller. Mimicking Erza's own movements, she pushed the block and kept moving, pushing hers into the lower-left corner of the pattern. "I'm not flake." She looked over at Chelia. "Chelia, why don't you do the last one? Tyrone, you can lie low." Erza made a few hand gestures that more than implied how she felt about Wendy. "Geez louise, don't get your knickers in a twist. I was just saying she should help you because...you know....Honestly I'm trying to make this sound iffy! But you know since Chelia...I'll shut up now." She had dug in way too deep. Chelia nodded accordingly, hopping over to the final block as she began to move like a road-runner, "This is actually really heavy...." Despite this, however, she did manage to do her job." The triad of blocks pushed into the formation as the puzzle was complete. As the puzzle was completed; the triangle in the center of the three conjoined blocks shone in a brilliant light, releasing a pillar of holy energy which ascended to the ceiling; causing a web-esque pattern to erupt and trail down like raindrops, as the statue before the puzzle slid back, revealing a secret staircase underneath. "...Well, that was easy. What'd I tell you?" Erza shrugged as she took the map from Hanako once more. Wendy walked over to the staircase, looking down. "Alright, let's get moving. I am sick of this place. We should have just had Jason come and blow it to piece...." She then thought of exactly what happens to a damaged Time Lock. "Actually....scratch that." Erza just laughed. "Doubt he could break what we got here. I mean strength only goes so far. You can't suddenly break time. Nobody can break time without preparing for it beforehand. It's one of the rules of the universe. You can't mess with time and space." She took a deep breath. "Let's keep walkin'." Trudging throw the highly narrow passage, Erza sighed. "I think we're recycling air here. It's not healthy. Like, I swear this is going to my brain. Can you guys, like, stop breathing for a moment. At least until we get out of the passage." "You don't understand time as well as you think you do, Erza." Wendy shrugged, sounding a bit smug. What exactly had this girl learned since the seven year split-up? "Our air should also be fine. The passage wasn't closed from where we entered, we shouldn't be cut-off from fresh air." Erza just ignored her first words. "Then you smell." Reaching the end of the tunnel, the group finally found their destination. "...Oh, wow." There was a large pedestal in the middle of this room, surrounded by 6 massive suits of armour holding giant swords. On the walls surrounding it were stained-glass windows depicting several demons—and last of all, the depiction of a mysterious figure in a white cloak and phoenix-shaped helmet was on the biggest window. Continuing to descend down some stairs, the group saw the main attraction—a regal looking coffin. Smeared in white and orange, the coffin possessed several markings, almost avian-esque in design. Erza sighed. "...Oho, what do we have here?" Gently placing her hands upon the lid, Erza opened the coffin... "....Wait, what?" ...to find somebody sleeping inside. This person was a beautiful young adult; with an almost perfect figure and pale skin who seemed to be in her 20's. She had long unkempt bluish gray hair which was tied into a right-side ponytail and blue eyes which seemed to be always sleepy. She wore a pair of glasses and her breasts were noticeably large. Her most distinct feature was the pair of black circles beneath her eyes. Yes, she had eyebags even though she was asleep. Wearing something rather casual, the woman was sleeping peacefully. Sleeping Beauty "...The hell is this!?" Chelia hissed. "I was expecting some super weapon or something, not some sleeping broad!" "Don't. Touch. My. Coffin." The figure's eyes snapped open like clockwork, startling the group. Thank god she was alive; however. The woman had a rather grouchy expression of her face as she yanked herself up, still sitting in the coffin. Hanako couldn't help but note, "So...what's it like sleeping for four hundred years plus?" The woman scratched her head, coughing. "It was bloody brilliant until you bastards woke me up. Now go on, shoo." "We can't, miss." Wendy replied, pulling a slip of paper out of her cleavage. "We're from the royal family, you have to pay a centuries worth of back taxes." The woman chuckled. "Ahaha, that's cute. I don't give two flying shits about the royal family. Now, if you'll be on your way, I'mma go back to sleep." "She's....kind of rude..." Makoto seemed a bit puzzled. "But she's so pretty..." Wendy groaned. "Why are we ever here? Isn't Crux and the Shadow Remnants the more pressing problem? We come here on a whim, and the treasure is a crabby woman. None of us asked for this." The woman suddenly became far more alert. "...Wait, you're talking about Hikari?" "....Hikari?" Erza was now confused beyond belief. "Yeah. Crux = Hikari. Hikari is a girl." Chelia's eyes went blank. "...Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" The woman scratched her head. "Look, want me to explain now? First, let me introduce myself. My name's Giselle Mercury; that's my name and I'm damn well stickin' to it." "Nice to meet you Giselle, I'm Makoto Lorelei!" Makoto was pleased with this turn of events. "I'm Wendy Marvell, this bunch's white mage." Wendy nodded in the direction of Giselle. "Tyrone." The large man grunted. "This would be Hanako, and the other is Erza." He jerked his head at the other two." Giselle cracked her neck; a loud sound resounded throughout the hollow room. "...Yeah, I'm a little old. Get over it. Now, do you want an explanation? Cause I can wait. Oh, reminds me." Giselle thrust her hand out- and like a magnet, a tricked-out crimson belt which had a phoenix-shaped belt buckle and a lever on the side flew out of nowhere, attaching around her waist. "Need my gear. Can't go without it." "You haven't even explained anything!" Wendy was a bit put off. How does this woman just decide to "go"? "Do you even know what we're standing in, and you decide to just get up and go? This entire area is sealed off in time, where are you going?" "I'm getting out of here. Isn't it obvious?" Giselle tilted her head; another *crack* could be heard. "...Again, I'm old. Very old. But let me explain some shit. Thirty years ago, the one known as "Crux Kouga" was called "Hikari Zanna". She was the first hormunculi of the Human-God Project; forged by my own hand. I remember how sweet she was; such a nice kid; always happy and child-like. Hell she even liked my cooking. However, it's a bit worse than that. Over time, I planned on escaping the Magic Council with Hikari, but Guran Doma exiled me and took Hikari away from me- they just ripped her from my hands in the blink of an eye. So, I'm the cause of this. Whenever fucked Hikari up so much is my fault- they changed her into a him and boosted 'his' power via some drugs. This drove 'him' over the edge, and you know...I kinda think is that despite everything, all he wants to do is be with his mother again. I couldn't handle the guilt of just leaving him with them. And so, I'm here." "That is sad..." Makoto's eyes seemed a bit watery. "So he's a real case of a tragedy?" Wendy frowned for a moment. While she didn't entirely sympathise with Crux, this did make her feel slightly guilty about snapping at him the way she had. "Well...our goal is kind of to kill him." So blunt. Giselle sighed. "Oh, boy, here we go. Why? Just because he's a villain doesn't mean he's a bad guy. There's a distinction between 'villain' and 'antagonist', you know." Wendy laughed derisively. "It doesn't matter either way. I don't care if you try to convince me, you're going to want to try and convince our Guild Master. He and your child have a bit of a...personal beef. If any of us fights Crux, it'll be Jason." Makoto, meanwhile, looked so confused. What happened before she joined the guild? Giselle laughed derisively. "Ahahaha, that's cute. He can beat my Crux? ....Oh god you're serious. Let me laugh harder. PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAAA...oh that was fun." She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Anyway, I've got no time to argue with a child. Let's get out of here. We're stuck in a Time Lock. It seems that once everything has passed on, it can cease and we can get out of here." Wendy gnashed her teeth for a moment, and, in fact, she seemed as if she was going to claw the woman's eyes out. Whatever her thoughts were, however, she composed herself. "Just lead us out." Tyrone chuckled for a moment. He had actually hoped Wendy had gone off the deep end; it would have given him something to do if he needed to stop a fight. Or better yet, get right in the middle of one. As the group exited the secret passage, Giselle's departure from her coffin had immediately taken effect. The black and white of the paused time wore off, as the demons swarming the castle turned their eyes onto the group. Demonic beasts- clad in black armour focused their piercing red eyes upon the group; their magical auras flaring up as they were about to pounce. Erza gripped her sword. "...Ready...?" Giselle chuckled sardonically. "Ahaha, piece of cake. Stand back, losers!" Slipping an emerald ring upon her finger, she scanned the ring over the belt around her waist; causing the belt to expand around her waist like a deck of cards wrapping around. Giselle threw her right arm at a diagonal to her right then rotated it clock-wise until it was a diagonal to her left, then she retracted it to her waist and thrust out her left arm at a diagonal to her right. With this, her special belt released five cards of pure magical power before her, blasting an approaching demon away as Giselle's speed picked up- running through the series of cards, as she left the projections, everything about her changed completely. Giselle was now clothed in white robes which had golden linings; covering her upper body in a glowing mantle that draped her shoulders. Her attire otherwise consisted of a white trenchcoat, white baggy pants, as well as white, pointed, elf-esque boots. She wore black gloves, and her face was concealed by a draconic-looking orange mask, which was covered by a hood. "Phoenix Knight, let's do it!" Giselle triumphant declared; yes, it was true... Giselle Mercury was the Phoenix Knight. A giant sword manifested in her hand, as she gripped it, spinning around. This shining sword itself was the nostalgic, sorrowful, and exalted dream of the legendary hero; the crystallization of the prayer named 'glory'. Proudly uplifting this will, ascertaining that this faith will be seen to its end, Giselle now loudly declared the name of this miracle she held in her hands. It was – "Shining ONSLAUGHT!!" Light galloped. Light roared. The magical energy, accelerated by the factor of the Phoenix Knight, became a streak of light in the very form of a gigantic phoenix, a swirling and surging torrent that devoured every single demon in the group's way together with the skies. A serial of silent screams rose within the streets evaporating in an instant, as every single atom composing the body of the demons that had been the embodiment of terror were exposed to the scorching impact; as all matter was brought into another world, annihilated by the white light. Wendy was rendered speechless. "What...what is this kind of power?" Makoto's eyes widened. "This power isn't normal...what is she?" Even Tyrone was at a loss for words; the power this woman displayed literally rendered him speechless. The Phoenix Knight snapped her fingers, as the ensemble of white and orange dispersed, leaving nothing but Giselle, who turned around with a smug look on her face, chuckling, "Well, what can I say? That was certainly...a bright revalation, wasn't it?" END